


prince

by maddy_does (favefangirl)



Series: Aaron Dingle Week 2020 [1]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Jackson mentioned - Freeform, M/M, Miscommunication, One Night Stands, Sort Of, bartsy brotp, met at a bar au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:56:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26910265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/favefangirl/pseuds/maddy_does
Summary: Adam is at the end of his tether with Aaron's moping. A wrong number presents the perfect opportunity to force him back into civilisation.
Relationships: Aaron Dingle/Ed Roberts, Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Series: Aaron Dingle Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940446
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	prince

**Author's Note:**

> Beginning note:  
> [Aaron Dingle Week 2020](https://aarondingleweek2020.tumblr.com/) Day 1 (12th Oct): "I think you got the wrong number, but count me in anyway. That sounds like fun!" and/or “It’s a hobby of mine to prove you wrong.”
> 
> Big up @lizzzzoo @howellobrien and @like-the-first-time-i-kissed-you on tumblr for running this :)

Aaron was going to kill Adam. Kill him dead. What was life in prison to be free of him constantly meddling in his life. The man was a nightmare and, honestly, Aaron wasn’t sure who exactly he’d pissed off to deserve him! 

_No_ , Aaron had said when Adam offered to reply to the wrong number text.

 _Leave it alone_ , Aaron had said when Adam had reached for the phone anyway.

 _Oh for-_ Aaron had said when he’d read what Adam had written.

**_I think you got the wrong number, but count me in anyway._ **

Honestly, why on earth would Aaron want to go meet some random at a bar called _Prince_ in Leeds. What exactly gave Adam the idea that that’s how Aaron would ever want to spend a Saturday night that way. Especially when his mum ran a pub that also offered enough alcohol to have him stumbling to bed drunk, with the added bonus that he wouldn’t have to make small talk that way. 

“You need to get out more, mate,” Adam had countered. “You spend all your time either at the pub or at work. It’s depressing.”

“I’m fine!”

“Oh yeah? Fine is not moping about after your ex eight months after you’d split up!”

It was an argument they’d had a million times, about Aaron needing to get over Ed. Adam said he was moping, making everyone else miserable along with him. Stooped as low as emotional blackmail by bringing Leo into it. It wasn’t like Aaron even still felt anything for Ed. He knew their amicable breakup was for the best, and he knew that Ed was thriving in France playing rugby. He didn’t even _really_ miss him all that much if he was honest.

No, Ed wasn’t the reason Aaron had become a hermit recently. 

Three or so months after he and Ed had split up, Aaron had gone to a bar in Hotten and met a guy. It couldn’t be called love at first sight, but the moment Aaron saw him there was an attraction. A fire burning in his belly he’d only heard tell about before. It was intoxicating. Falling into bed with him had been inevitable, some swanky hotel near the bar that Aaron almost certainly couldn’t afford. The sex had been incredible. The seeing stars, out of this world, burning hot kind.

Aaron had woken up the next morning to an empty bed, room paid for, and not even a note to say goodbye. Aaron had gone back to the bar at the same time every night for two weeks after that, but the guy hadn’t returned. In fact, no one else seemed to know he existed, and could offer no information about him. Aaron didn’t even know his name.

It was strange to miss someone he barely knew, and really how could he know him after only one night, but it still felt like there was something missing in his life. It hadn’t felt like this since he came out, this deep ache. It was like mourning, which was ridiculous, but there you go. He didn’t really know why he didn’t just tell Adam about him, he was sure Adam would be thrilled Aaron was getting over Ed, and would’ve had Vic playing Miss Marple months ago. But it felt as though he couldn’t. As though the only tangible link he still had to that man and that night was the secrecy surrounding it.

And now, apparently, thanks to his currently-alive-but-not-for-long best friend, he was going on a date with someone else. Or, for drinks with someone else. To a gay bar. In Leeds. 

Aaron did everything he could to get out of it, making up work he had to do so Cain wouldn’t kill him, asking his mum to spend time together so he’d not be able to go. He even did the rounds to offer babysitting services for the night (this got him more than a few suspicious looks). It was all to no avail and come Saturday Adam was at his door with a grin on his face like it was _him_ who was going on the date.

He spent the train to Leeds hoping that he’d get there and find it was some poor woman who thought they’d scored a hot date with some busty blonde, and they would both go there separate ways in mutual embarrassment. It was a long shot, sure, but still. Aaron could at least hope the night wouldn’t be too excruciating.

But then, he thought, perhaps meeting a guy might be a good thing. What was that saying about the best way to get over someone? Maybe a night, even a mediocre night, with someone else might be enough for him to forget the mystery man from Hotten. The chances were slim to none, but still. He could hope, couldn’t he?

He stood shivering outside the club cursing his decision not to wear a coat. It was the middle of November and he was freezing. He blew into his hands to try and warm them but to no avail. He hoped the mystery number would show up soon, whoever they were, or he feared he might freeze to death. He shifted his weight on the balls of his feet and looked up and down the street but it was empty. He checked the time on his phone and saw that the other person was in fact ten minutes late. He huffed and rubbed his runny nose on the back of his hand. 

“This is bullshit,” he mumbled to himself, pushing off the wall and starting to make his way back towards the train station.

“You all alone? You’re right, that is bullshit,” said a voice into the dark.

Aaron looked up towards the bar’s entrance and saw a familiar figure had appeared on the pavement before him. Aaron stopped in his tracks and his mouth dropped open. It was him - the man from the bar in all his tall, lean, blonde glory. Aaron looked around dumbly, not entirely convinced that the man before him wasn’t actually some kind of apparition or spectre.

“It's you,” he stated.

The man laughed and fuck, but that was a beautiful sound. “I guess it is.”

Aaron looked around again - just to be sure he wasn't imagining this, because the whole thing felt surreal. Surely this couldn’t be the wrong number - the world wasn’t kind enough for that. Yet they were at the same bar, at the same time, neither of them appearing to be with someone. Aaron thought that maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing to at the very least … hope?

“What’re you doing here?” Aaron asked, aiming for casual but probably missing the mark by a mile and sounding demanding instead.

It didn’t seem to matter though because the man smiled at him, and huffed a laugh. Aaron definitely didn’t kid himself into thinking that was fond - no way. “I just came out for a drink,” the man explained. “You?”

“I was meant to meet someone,” Aaron found his mouth saying before his brain caught up. “But I think I’ve been stood up.”

“They’re an idiot then,” the man said.

 _Like you?_ Aaron thought, bitterly. In fact this whole exchange was tinged with a layer of awkwardness, and it wasn’t quite sitting right with Aaron’s stomach. He was happy to see the other man, and those feelings of warmth were there, the ones that made him feel just shy of giddy. But he couldn’t forget that he’d been abandoned in a random hotel room in Hotten with not even a note of apology or farewell. Beneath the joy - joy completely alien to Aaron - there was more than a little anger, too.

And perhaps more than he thought because the man’s face fell, and Aaron realised he’d gone and said that aloud. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath against the bright hot embarrassment that came over him. G-d, what an idiot! How could he be so stupid and careless?

But then hadn’t stupidity and carelessness gotten him here in the first place. Following a random guy back to his hotel room, sleeping with him, not telling anyone about it, answering a suspicious wrong number inviting him to a bar in Leeds. It seemed that where this stranger was concerned, there was somewhat of a theme emerging. 

“Yeah,” the man said, surprising Aaron enough that he needed to take a physical step backwards. “Like me.” The man stepped out of the bar’s doorway into the street. “Things were a little… complicated the last time we met. When I went out to that club the last thing I expected was to meet you. I did and I… panicked, I guess. You were…” The man sighed and shook his head. “I shouldn’t have left you like that.”

Aaron should’ve said that he shouldn’t. That he was an ass and that he was better off without him. He should’ve walked away with a pointed finger raised and forgot about the whole damn night. He should’ve reminded himself about the inevitability of heartbreak, and the loneliness, and the fact that no one ever chose to stay. He should’ve, and with anyone else he probably would’ve. Would’ve dug in his heels and demanded answers about what was so complicated, why did Aaron make him panic, why couldn’t he have at least left a note to say goodbye. Aaron hated feeling like he needed closure on something that was never even real.

Instead he said nothing and let the man pick up back where he left off. “But things are different now, if you wanted to get a drink?”

And Aaron really, really should’ve said no. Because a drink led to bed and to relationships and to questions about scars - questions he wasn’t sure he even knew how to answer anymore. And those questions led to Jackson, and Ed, now, too. This led to Aaron baring his soul, to holding out his heart in two hands like the fragile thing it was and being unable to do anything more than hope that the other person would handle with care.

But Adam was right (something they could write on the gravestone, because Aaron was still definitely going to kill him), he’d been moping for far too long, scared of hurt. Scared of falling into and out of love again. Scared that he’d never meet anyone who could light him on fire the way the man in front of him did. And maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to be optimistic?

At that moment his phone buzzed in his hand. He checked it and saw a notification from the wrong number that’d gotten him here in the first place. He opened it and read _sorry, found the right number, have a good night x_. And wasn’t that just perfect. He’d come all the way to Leeds for someone who cancelled twenty minutes after they were supposed to arrive. Except, maybe that was a bit perfect?

So Aaron said, “Alright then,” and sealed his own fate. “But you’re buying.”

The man laughed again, just as beautiful. “I can live with that.”

And Aaron knew that he was in for a world of trouble when the man added, “I’m Robert, by the way. Robert Sugden.”

**Author's Note:**

> this is so bad, omd! basically, i'm at uni now, it's my birthday, i woke up at 7:30 to write this because i have three days until it needs posting, and it is awful but i said i was gonna finish this week so i am if it kills me!
> 
> this is technically day one, so yay for this week! it's gonna be fun! but this is the fourth day i've written, and i'm basically drafting and scheduling everything so i can just click post on the day because my timetable is a little insane tbh so i don't want to run out of time.
> 
> anyway, if you wanna leave a comment or a kudos they're much appreciated! especially let me know if there's something you think i forgot to tag! trust me, i know this is poor, but hopefully the writing will get better as the week goes on!
> 
> i'm taking prompts! if you're interested please drop the prompt in the comments below. if you do send a prompt be prepared for me to take fifty years to fill it because school is so hard (or, i guess, uni now, lol), but i promise i'll try! come say hi on tumblr: [@maddy-does](https://maddy-does.tumblr.com/)
> 
> thanks so much for reading, have a wonderful existence!


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